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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24029326">soul silk</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/JamieGaylePiff/pseuds/JamieGaylePiff'>JamieGaylePiff</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Adventures of Epiphany Gaylord</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Faeries - Freeform, Fair Folk, Found Family, Gen, Knitting, Magic, Superheroes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-03 01:43:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>959</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24029326</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/JamieGaylePiff/pseuds/JamieGaylePiff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>there is a world where names are traded like cards and superheroes roam the streets of DC. there is a world where every interaction sets off a spool of thread, weaving the tapestry of the universe. there is a world where the judge rules and the king lies and life takes and death waits and there are so, so, so many stories to be told. there is a world, just like this one, that has magic.</p><p>(i’m just exploring background characters in epiphany gaylord LMAO)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Gytha Birkeland &amp; Doubles</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>warnings for discussion of transphobia in this chap</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">he—well, he wasn’t a he, was he? more like an it—met a girl.</span>
</p>
<p class="p3">
  <span class="s2">it met a girl, and she was not shaped like human girls usually were. its kind could tell what one was, but it in particular had learned to pick out the ones who were not what others thought they were. </span>
</p>
<p class="p3">
  <span class="s2">it met a girl shaped like human boys usually were. </span>
</p>
<p class="p3">
  <span class="s2">it was bored. it wanted to be a boy, for a few years. </span>
</p>
<p class="p3">
  <span class="s2">so it approached. </span>
</p>
<p class="p3">
  <span class="s2">“human girl,” it said, and she jumped. </span>
</p>
<p class="p3">
  <span class="s2">of course. her kind were so rarely afforded the dignity of being recognized as they were, especially so young. </span>
</p>
<p class="p3">
  <span class="s2">she didn’t speak, though. smart thing. smart, smart, smart little girl. </span>
</p>
<p class="p3">
  <span class="s2">“you were given a name at your birth,” it said, “but unless you have chosen another, it does not fit. would you like to trade it for another?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p3">
  <span class="s2">she shook her head. </span>
</p>
<p class="p3">
  <span class="s2">“will you return, then?” it asked, “to those people who think you a boy?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p3">
  <span class="s2">she paused, and shook her head. </span>
</p>
<p class="p3">
  <span class="s2">“will they worry at your absence?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p3">
  <span class="s2">she shrugged—in sullen, youthful anger, that was a yes. her actions were beginning to catch up to her. </span>
</p>
<p class="p3">
  <span class="s2">“then give me your name”, it said, “and i will give you one of mine, an even trade, and i will live your life, and you will proceed to the liar’s court, to be recognized as a girl with a girl’s name.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p3">
  <span class="s2">she wet her lips. </span>
</p>
<p class="p3">
  <span class="s2">she spoke. </span>
</p>
<p class="p3">
  <span class="s2">“if my... name, binds you to my life, what life will i live?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p3">
  <span class="s2">“smart girl, smart girl!” it crowed, “my names will bind you to the lives i could not finish.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p3">
  <span class="s2">“... i want all cards on the table,” she decided. “i’ll tell you my life, and you’ll tell me yours, and if there’s one i like i’ll pick it, but if there isn’t i won’t and you’ll be on your way.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p3">
  <span class="s2">it considered this. </span>
</p>
<p class="p3">
  <span class="s2">it accepted. </span>
</p>
<p class="p3">
  <span class="s2">she told it that she was thirteen, and she had a sister who would notice nothing, and a best friend who wouldn’t unless told, and a best friend who would notice because she herself was a changeling. </span>
</p>
<p class="p3">
  <span class="s2">it told her of many lives, but only one interested her: the one where it (then a she) was a member of the liar’s court, where it was a matron of the human servants, where it took care of the children. </span>
</p>
<p class="p3">
  <span class="s2">she gave it her name, and he gave her his. </span>
</p>
<p class="p3">
  <span class="s2">gytha was lead to the house of a duchess, and the changeling—her twin—vanished. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>gretchen kravitz, the hero known as the mourning warp, helps a woman.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>there’s discussions of a relationship here that is not meant to be abusive but may be interpreted as such.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">she is a hero. she saves people. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">most of her work goes unnoticed. this is fine. daring fire rescues and brawls with muggers are not the only things that save lives. grocery deliveries, company on the way home, advice, gift certificates—those can be just as life saving. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">and being a hero isn’t all about saving lives. sometimes it’s just about saving happiness. for example: a woman, coming her way, who is proud and desperate. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">she must be, to come directly to her and say, “can you help me?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">the hero—who is carting a wagon filled with prepared meals, and who is carrying reusable pads in her enormous pockets—replies, “what do you need help with?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“it’s my boyfriend,” the woman explains. “i dont want to marry him, but i think he wants to marry me, and i can’t dump him.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">the hero nods in understanding. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“how soon do you need to split?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">the woman says it’s not time sensitive, it just can’t happen, and the hero changes her course. </span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">the pair ends up at a small yarn shop. the hero leaves the woman outside with the food, and comes out with half a dozen balls of yarn and a pair of needles connected by a plasticky cord. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“after i deliver lunch, i’m going to teach you how to knit,” she proclaims. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">the woman, proud and desperate, says, “what?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">the hero sighs, and explains, “there’s a curse. it’s an old curse, so you know it’s a good one. if you knit a sweater for someone you haven’t married, the relationship will snap like a weak thread before the thing’s done. so i’m going to teach you how to knit after i deliver lunch. do you mind holding this bag?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">without waiting for an answer, the hero shoves the woman’s new project into her arms, and takes up the handle of the wagon once more. </span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“-through the loop, no, you went through the yarn-it’s okay, lets try again-just like that-“ the hero commentates. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">the woman snarls and throws down her needles. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“i can’t do this,” the woman says, frustrated. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“it’s okay,” the hero tells her, “we can take a break and try again later. this was really hard for me when i first picked it up. what do you like to do?”</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“is it supposed to be curling like that?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">the hero craned her neck over to see the woman’s work and nodded.</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">at when it got too dark to properly see her stitching through her veil, the hero stood up in a rustle of skirts. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“you probably need to go now,” she said, sheepishly. “when you have about a square worked, or long enough that it goes to an inch or so under your boyfriend’s armpits, come find me and i’ll help you with the sleeves!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">the woman nodded, and stowed her several inches of fabric with the rest of her yarn as she stood and stuck out her hand. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“i appreciate this,” she said. “i know i’ve been frustrating, but i appreciate you helping me.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">the hero grinned, though the woman couldn’t see it, and shook her hand. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“it was a pleasure!” she exclaimed, before turning in an explosion of dyed underskirts and skipping away. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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